Buying Local Meats & Preventing Drug Resistance

Excerpt from September 19th, 2011 Yahoo News, "Growing Concern over Drugs Fed to Animals." 

Drugs fed to animals to promote growth and prevent diseases may play a key role in the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, microbiologists said.The practice of administering large quantities of antimicrobial drugs "favors the emergence of drug resistant bacteria that can spread to humans through the consumption of contaminated food, from direct contact with animals or by environmental spread," said Awa Aidara-Kane of the World Health Organization.

Factory farming is an unnatural method of raising our livestock that requires pumping animals full of steroids and antibiotics. We have heard for many years that this will lead to antibiotic resistance of diseases we once thought long gone. Sadly, this predicted future is now here and will only continue until we take measures to correct it. Fortunately, you and your family can choose to be a part of the solution while also helping to protect yourselves.

Choose organic, grass fed, free range animals. For the most optimally raised livestock, visit your local farmer’s market and get to know your local farmers. 

Beef 
Grass fed beef is not only free of antibiotic hormones but also contains a third the calories of traditional beef. In addition, grass fed beef,  compared to grain fed, contains high quantities of Conjugated Linoleic Acid, which has many documented health benefits including promoting lean muscle. There are many grass fed beef sources at natural grocers and plenty of restaurants are now serving grass fed burgers and steaks.

Chicken
Free range, organic chicken is free of antibiotics and hormones that are  prevalent in 99% of commercially available chicken. Significantly healthier for you and your family, it is also said that free range, organic chicken tastes better. Not all chickens labeled 'Free Range' and 'Organic' are given optimal conditions and, in fact, Michael Pollan visited one of the more popular “Free Range / Organic” farms that is commercially available in many natural grocers and found that the chickens were only given these conditions during the last few weeks of their lives. A great resource for information is: http://www.eatwild.com/index.html. 


Bottom Line: Choose local and organic farms whenever possible.

Image Courtesy of Dan.